Source: livetradingnews.com
America Reversing Its Position On Marijuana
Since the beginning of Y 2014, more than 70 bills related to Hemp and Marijuana (both Medical and Recreational) have been introduced in more than 50% of the states in the US.
That is 3X+ the number of Hemp bills introduced during the same legislation period last year, and nearly 2X the total amount of Hemp bills introduced in all of Y 2013.
Plus the recent passage of the Farm Bill legalizes industrial Hemp production for research purposes in states that permit it.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), one of the Congressmen who introduced the industrial Hemp amendment to the Farm Bill, said in an interview that all the progress on Hemp legislation is a Key indicator of just how fast policy is changing in America.
“It’s not just turning a corner, it’s turning a corner and running downhill,” Mr. Blumenauer said. “The case against industrial Hemp production has always been flawed, but now three things are happening. One, we’ve been able to make some significant inroads in a variety of states that have already passed legislation easing [production]. Second, the actual amendment to the Farm Bill was a beacon. And third, we are just seeing [that] the ice dam that has been containing modernization of our Marijuana laws generally is cracking.”
To date, 12 states have legalized industrial Hemp production and 24 others have introduced legislation that, if passed, would authorize research, set up a regulatory framework or legalize the growing of industrial Hemp in the state.
In February, President Barack Hussein Obama signed the Farm Bill, which legalized industrial Hemp production for research purposes. The state bills, like the Hemp amendment to the Farm Bill, represent a sharp reversal from a long-standing policy banning Hemp under the federal Controlled Substances Act, which does not make a distinction between Marijuana, the drug, and Hemp, the plant.
Hemp is the same species as Marijuana, Cannabis sativa, but they are cultivated differently in order to enhance or diminish their THC properties, depending on the crop.
Hemp contains little to no THC, the psychoactive ingredient in Marijuana associated with the “high.’
Last year, Colorado farmer Ryan Loflin harvested the 1st known Hemp crop grown on American soil in nearly 60 yrs, after the Y 2012 passage of Amendment 64 in Colorado legalized Marijuana for recreational use and laid the groundwork for industrial Hemp production in the state.
Mr. Loflin planted 55 acres of Hemp before regulations were officially in place, he met with no interference from the federal government or state officials. With Colorado’s regulations now on the books, the state is the 1st in the nation to legally regulate Hemp since the federal government allowed for limited production.
Hemp has a long history in America, it is 1 that skews toward legal use and encompasses a range of household products, including: paper, oils, cosmetics and textiles.
In the 1700s, American farmers were required by law to grow Hemp in Virginia and other colonies. For hundreds of years Hemp has been grown and used to make rope, lamp oil, clothing and much more worldwide and in the US.
American industrial Hemp production peaked in Y 1943, with more than 150-M lbs from 146-K harvested acres. But production dropped to Zero in the late 1950s as a result of “anti-drug sentiment and competition from synthetic fibers,”
Stay tuned…Hemp is a trillion-dollar business.
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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